Friday, March 16, 2007

The Times Inaugurates 'Palestine'

The pro-Palestinian prejudice of the New York Times is so deeply ingrained that it can be found in articles on the arts and now, even otherwise good articles on the Middle East.

We see that in an article that ran on the front page today, on a new gang of anti-American terrorists operating out of a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon:

The arc of Mr. Abssi’s life shows the allure of Al Qaeda for Arab militants. Born in Palestine, from which he and family were evicted by the Israelis, Mr. Abssi, 51, said he stopped studying medicine. . .

Apparently "Mr. Abssi" is from Palestine, Texas, and his family had an Israeli landlord who evicted them from their apartment. It has to be. In 1956, when "Mr. Abssi" was born, there was no place name called "Palestine" on any map available outside of the Arab world.

Maybe the Times meant Jordan or Egypt, but that would remind the reader that those two esteemed Arab countries did not give Palestinians the statehood they suddenly thirsted for after 1967.

Also there is the question of this "eviction." How did that happen? Did Israel just serve an eviction notice on the Abssi clan or did they just pick up and leave during the Six-Day War?

The point is that there was and, thank heavens, is no "Palestine," thanks to the bloodthirstiness of "Mr. Abssi" and his ilk.